Cairo: Qatar must stop supporting terrorism and spreading hate, Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al Jubeir said amid a lingering row between the kingdom and a Saudi-led Arab bloc.
In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut off diplomatic and transportation links with Qatar over its support for extremist groups. Efforts to defuse the dispute have since failed to make a breakthrough.
“Qatar is spreading hate and using its various platforms to promote such rhetoric,” Al Jubeir said Tuesday at the European Parliament in Brussels
“It must alter its behaviour and cease supporting terrorism,” he added, accusing Qatar of continuing to fund militant groups.
Last month, Qatar’s Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani skipped an annual summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that was held in the Saudi capital Riyadh, dampening hopes for an end to the crisis.
The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar.
The boycotting quartet have repeatedly demanded Doha to comply with a set of conditions to end the standoff.
The demands include Qatar’s severance of links with militant and terror groups, and shutting down Al Jazeera TV, seen as a mouthpiece of the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
Qatar has refused the conditions, saying they violate its sovereignty.
Qatar is also a close ally of Iran, which Al Jubeir branded as the world’s greatest state sponsor of terrorism.
The official also accused Iran of attacking Saudi oil facilities last September. The attacks came amid heightened tensions between Iran and the US, an ally of Saudi Arabia.
